Drunk, disorderly, dead…Disputes caused all six murders recorded for year in F Division

Alcohol and short tempers are proving to be a lethal mix in the Guyana Police Force’s interior location, known as ‘F’ Division, where all six murders that have occurred in this division this year have reportedly stemmed from disputes.
The victims include an elderly man who was stabbed to death in his home, a wife who was murdered and left on a trail after a night out drinking, a man who was battered to death after returning from a drinking establishment, a rice farmer who was ambushed and hacked to death on a trail, and a young man who was battered, shot with an arrow, and buried in a shallow grave, allegedly by a relative.
On Wednesday, February 1, the body of Henry Samuels, 69, was found lying on the floor of his home at Hosororo Hill, North West District. The father of three, also called “Archie,” sustained a stab wound to his neck.
On February 12, Joseph Duncan, a 30-year-old block maker of Tabatinga, Rupununi, Essequibo, allegedly stabbed Cheddi Glasgow, allegedly after being constantly bullied.
Duncan’s attorney told the court that his client suffers from a medical condition which makes him suffer from epilepsy. The attorney said that Duncan was subjected to constant taunts by persons in the area, including Glasgow.
It was alleged that Duncan was going fishing with some friends in the Tabatinga River, when Glasgow came out of his yard and attacked his client with a fork after taunting him about his medical condition. In return, Duncan allegedly used a knife to defend himself. It was also claimed the two men fell to the ground and it was then that his client stabbed Glasgow.
After stabbing Glasgow, Duncan reportedly picked up the knife and fork and took them to the Lethem Police Station and made a report.

Joseph Duncan

Henry Samuels

He was then arrested and charged for the offence.
On February 18, the body of Justina Leonard, 47, of Shulinab Village, Central Rupununi, Essequibo, was found dead on a roadway. The woman’s 32-year-old husband, Peter Juan, is said to have claimed the couple was imbibing at a shop and later left for home.
It was reported that Juan arrived home before his wife, but discovered that he did not have the keys to their home. He reportedly walked back to meet his wife, when he saw her lying motionless on the road with her face covered in blood.
Detectives had arrested Juan after the find. However, the police kept him in custody pending a post mortem examination, which revealed that Leonard died of blunt trauma and a fractured skull. Juan was subsequently charged with his spouse’s murder.
On February 21, Lee Anton, 21, of Bon Fim, Brazil, and a sibling had left a drinking establishment and were walking along a trail at Takatu, Lethem, when a group of men attacked them.
The attackers reportedly threw stones at the siblings. The brother said that he managed to escape, while Anton was clubbed to death. His killers are still at large, and there are reports that they may have fled to Brazil.

Ryan English

Selima Norton, called Shelly

Last Friday, the mutilated body of 52-year-old Ganga Persaud Changa, of Santa Rosa Village, was found on the trail to his farm in the Moruca Sub-district, Region One (Barima/Waini).
According to reports, Changa was heading to his farm at Koko Island, when he was approached by a man who was armed with a cutlass. The man reportedly chopped Persaud about his body, severing the farmer’s left hand and feet.
The alleged killer, who reportedly still had the bloody cutlass, was apprehended the same day. Police have received reports that he is of unsound mind. He is said to be a 31-year-old resident of Koko Island, North West District. Meanwhile, F Division police are still trying to locate a 28-year-old man who allegedly clubbed and shot his cousin with an arrow last Thursday before burying the body in a shallow grave.
The body of Arnold Gordon, 24, a labourer of Crapaud Pond, Kumu Village, Central Rupununi, was found in a grave around 16.30hrs on Friday in an area known as Tiger Plate, Central Rupununi.
The victim was shot with an arrow under his right arm-pit. An iron rod was also found near the murder scene.
The sole eyewitness to the killing is said to be a six-year-old boy, who is the slain man’s cousin.
According to reports, Gordon and his six-year-old cousin left home around 17:00hrs on Thursday to fish at a pond next to the Tiger Plate area. While in the area, Gordon encountered the 28-year-old cousin, who is unemployed, and an argument ensued.
It is alleged that the suspect picked up a piece of wood and a metal rod and struck Gordon.
The six-year-old, who was with Gordon, ran back home and told his grandmother.
When Gordon failed to return home the following day, his mother reported the matter to a Toshao, who informed the police. The Toshao and a team conducted a search for Gordon and eventually located what appeared to be a shallow grave in some bushes about twenty feet from the suspect’s camp.
After a few minutes of digging, they saw a hand protruding from the grave. They notified police, who dug up the grave, which was about two feet deep, and found Gordon’s corpse.
This high number of disorderly murders appears to be an all too regular pattern in the interior locations. In August 2016, 55-year-old businessman Ramsammy Narine died after he was stabbed to the neck with an arrow, allegedly by a drinking partner at his Four Miles, Port Kaituma grocery. Narine’s killer was identified as a 37-year-old porknocker from Five Miles Port Kaituma.
It was alleged that Narine, the porknocker and another man were imbibing alcohol at the businessman’s premises when an argument ensued. A scuffle broke out between Narine and the porknocker, and Narine’s 17-year-old son Andrew Narine, then closed the shop.
The porknocker reportedly left, while Narine and the other man continued drinking. However, the porknocker allegedly returned with an associate who drenched Narine with gasoline before the porknocker stabbed him with the arrow
In September, 2016, 32-year-old dredge owner Ryan English was hacked to death, allegedly by a father and son at a backdam in Port Kaituma, Region One.
Reports are that English and one of the suspects were imbibing at a shop in Port Kaituma when an argument arose, which later resulted in English sustaining a chop wound to the head. He was allegedly later badly chopped by the same assailant and another relative at a mining camp, and succumbed while undergoing surgery. In a bizarre incident at Ekereku Hill top, Kamarang in November 2016, a miner and his partner stabbed each other to death during a row at their business premises.
The victims were Selima Norton, 45, called Shelly’ of New Providence Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara, and Kurt Reynolds, 37, of Silverballi Street, Meadow Brook Gardens.
Police reportedly found Norton’s mutilated body at the scene, while Reynolds, who was still alive, lay nearby with two stab wounds to his abdomen.
The dying man claimed that he and Norton had quarreled after they both accused each other of infidelity. He alleged that Norton stabbed him, but he managed to use the same weapon to wound her.
But according to a press release, Reynolds and Norton who were operating a business at Ekereku had an argument over Reynolds’ alleged mismanagement of their business.
The argument escalated and it is alleged that Norton armed herself with a knife and stabbed Reynolds twice to the abdomen and left foot. Reynolds then allegedly took the weapon and stabbed Norton multiple times about her body, after which they both collapsed some distance apart and bled to death.
Reynolds was reportedly still alive when ranks from the Ekereku Police Station, who travelled to the area by boat and All-Terrain Vehicle, arrived some 30 minutes later.
Reynolds’ relatives would later claim that Norton had stabbed him because he had declared greater affection for his wife and the mother of one of his children.
Shelly Norton who narrowly escaped death in October, 2015, when her jilted partner shot and killed her one-year-old granddaughter, Arian Gill, and wounded Norton’s 12-year-old daughter, Ashley Wellington.
The attack occurred at the woman’s Annandale, East Coast Demerara residence.
The alleged killer, former Guyana Defence Force rank Marc Angoy, has since been charged with the killing.
In May, 2009, 56-year-old farmer Ronald Charlie was charged for the murder of his wife, Eunice Charlie, who died at the Lethem Hospital after receiving several lashes about the body.
Prior to being remanded the accused had told a magistrate: “Meh can’t remember what happened because I was drinking piwari.”